


(as long as we're together, does it matter where we go?)

by astrxd



Series: won't you fly with me? [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Tumblr request, and it's like. my favorite thing.... not sry, fluff....... but also touches of httyd 3-flavored angst, httyd 3 spoilers, lots of kisses!! and comfort!! and a gratuitous amount of teasing banter, post-HTTYD 3, there's a parks & rec "hahaha u had a crush on me" moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 19:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17986847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrxd/pseuds/astrxd
Summary: “Beautiful, isn’t it?” She mumbled. Hiccup, feeling a bit better, wrapped an arm around her middle and kissed her temple.“The sunrise? Or you?” (Pass on an opportunity like that? How could he?)“Shut up.” She elbowed him gently, albeit in good humor. Though she did and said one thing, he could still hear the laugh in her voice. ”I appreciate that, but… No, neither. I was talking about how incredible it was to have lived alongside them for so long. How beautiful it is that we’ve done and seen so much more of what this world has to offer.” Astrid leaned over to kiss his cheek before they turned to each other again. He felt like he started glowing, as if a warmth was now flooding through him like the early sun’s soft rays of light. That was the kind of effect Astrid’s kisses had on him. “And you, Hiccup -- you brought us here. You made it all possible. Thank you.”...On her lips, which were curving into a smile against his own, he tasted eternity and the promise of Valhalla.[tumblr request; something of a companion piece to(can i be close to you?)set after HTTYD 3 -- hiccup laments, astrid provides comfort and reassurance. the future is theirs and they're facing it together.]





	(as long as we're together, does it matter where we go?)

**Author's Note:**

> [full request, courtesy of @thecakegoesmeow: "anyway since requests were open i was curious if you’d write another fic similar to “can i be close to you?” but rather after httyd3, with them building new berk and actually,, talkin about marriage and figuring out new berk’s and their own future (lots of kissing would be a very nice addition :D) thank you again!!"]
> 
> i loOoOOOOVE them so MUCH..... title is drawn from "home" by gabrielle aplin bc... what a good song. i love it. reading _(can i be close to you?)_ isn't at all necessary, but if you squint, there are a couple of callbacks. :') i hope you enjoy reading!!!

The dragons returned to their ancestral home; the Berkians fled theirs. It was for the best, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. Words couldn’t begin to describe the bittersweet ache deep in Hiccup’s chest when they… When the dragons...

...New Berk was quiet that morning.

The “temporary” shelters they pitched were going to remain standing until a proper house for every family was finished, though nobody expected construction to be completed right away. The absence of the dragons echoed sharply through the hearts and souls of every Hooligan and it was made especially piercing by the silence -- no wing-generated winds, no roars and trills and snorts, no thundering steps. No dragons. Each Berkian knew that Hiccup felt this pain most, but a stinging had surely settled into everyone else’s bones, too.

For a split second of a moment, watching the mass departure made it seem like Snoggletog was back upon them and the dragons were heading to their island. It only took another beat for anybody to realize that, no, it was not like Snoggletog. They weren’t coming back with baby dragons. They weren’t coming back at all.

New Berk was quiet that morning. Everyone seemed to retreat to their tents and half-finished homes after breakfast to comfort their children, comfort each other, and continue to chip away at building. Spirits fluctuated throughout the early hours because, despite the absence echoing through the trees, this was still a victory! Perhaps it wasn’t the vision for the tribe’s future that anybody conjured up in their heads, but it also was nowhere near as catastrophic as it could have been. Unlike previous victories, however, there were no working plans to hold a proper celebration -- no feast, no drinking, no music or singing or dancing, no _Great Hall_ , not that that had stopped them a few nights ago -- to exhaust anybody before bed.

(Maybe, though, they were waiting for their chief to assure them that they should be rejoicing. He felt like it would do their morale some good.)

Hiccup was quiet that morning. He found himself sitting on the same grassy bluff of their new home for -- well, he didn’t know how long, exactly. At some point the sun had fully edged above the horizon and the sky was painted with soft pink and orange hues, rolling with clouds that blanketed the sea below. When he closed his eyes and lifted his chin towards the blustering wind, it almost felt like he was--

Flying.

He hadn’t bothered to strip down the rest of his armor. Hiccup returned to the village with the rest of his people and retrieved another prosthetic, only to wander off to the cliff again. He was going to change, he needed to change, and he eventually would, but in the meantime… He continued to linger there, letting memories of the past float through his mind like the clouds and waves down below. That was definitely a strange thought -- he was on land, only they were so high up that most of the clouds were down below.

Despite his exhaustion, he somehow felt restless. His throat was tight. He hadn’t spoken to anybody since the dragons left, nor had anybody bothered really trying. Astrid, his mom, and Gobber, among others, all expressed their mutual sorrows to him in solemn silence and through actions, but the more that Hiccup contemplated it, the more he came to understand that what he felt… Wasn’t sorrow. Not _entirely_ , at least _\--_ though that could partially be attributed to the fact that he was still processing the fact that Toothless was gone. That all of them were gone.

‘Gone,’ however, didn’t exactly feel like the right word. Just like ‘sorrow’ wasn’t it, either.

...‘Home’ and ‘melancholy,’ maybe.

The gust of wind that battered against his cheeks and whipped back his hair eventually tapered to an end. Hiccup opened his eyes and squinted against the golden brightness of the sun as it began to cast its light over their new island. He drew in a breath and held it in his lungs, half-wondering if one more time, if he held it long enough, he could remember what it was like to be even higher up, where the air was thin, where he was unfailingly made breathless by so many things--

\--Only, before he could launch himself into his (surely not last, not yet) mental hurrah, he was suddenly startled by the weight of a hand on his shoulder.

Hiccup was drawn out of his thoughts, though he didn’t need to look behind him to know who it was. Before she sat down, Astrid’s fingers grazed the torn material of his armor, where one of his pauldrons had been ripped off, leaving his skin exposed to the midsummer air. Hiccup felt that there was something strangely poetic about having lost the piece of his armor that boldly displayed a crimson Night Fury.

Astrid wordlessly reached for his hand and Hiccup reached for hers, too. She settled beside him so that they were hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder -- her hands were cold when she started passing her fingers over his knuckles, but he hardly minded. Unlike himself, she actually changed and traded her Deadly Nadder battle armor for her usual clothes. She’s dressed accordingly, all things considered, for a new day.

She laced their fingers, leaned her head against his shoulder, and broke the silence with a deep breath. Her presence was always inexorably comforting, especially when he felt lost… And he’s never felt this lost before.

“...Hi,” she murmured, squeezing his hand.

He had to search for the right words to respond with, even for such a simple greeting -- even for Astrid. That was a testament to how scattered his head was. “Hey.”

“We missed you at breakfast.”

He shook his head. “Wasn’t hungry. Did everyone manage alright?” Astrid was well in-tune with these matters, particularly when he wasn’t, and taking care of his people -- _their_ people -- still demanded attention, no matter how distracted he was. Hiccup didn’t feel as bad knowing without a doubt that Astrid (and Gobber and his mom and the others) were contributing to leadership where he couldn’t, _when_ he couldn’t.

He just needed a little more time.

“They did.”

“I think I hear a ‘but’ somewhere there.”

Astrid sighed. “But what we have won’t last forever. There’s a lot of land that needs to be tilled for planting and livestock pens to be built…” She seemed to steel herself during her pause. Hiccup looked over to gauge her expression in anticipation of what she was going to say. “And I was thinking. With how high up we are, and without our… Without dragons, we’ll eventually need to develop a more efficient system for fishing. Erect some scaffolding and paths down to some water, put up docks. To do that, though, we’ve got to collect enough lumber and Gobber is going to need a ton of ore for rivets and nails, so we’ll have to break ground…”

He could tell that Astrid was apprehensive about presenting all of these duties to him at this time, but instead of feeling stressed out? He found comfort in her involvement. Life was going to change dramatically for all of them with the dragons gone and they knew it, and though it wasn’t the ease they granted with hunting and building or the mobility they provided that he would miss most, it would still impact them. Dragons influenced every aspect of their lives, from construction to food supply to leisure. Re-establishing trading would also pose a significant challenge, the Berk Guard would need to undergo different training--

Gods. There was so much work to do.

“Right,” he affirmed. “I’ll--start drafting. Soon.” It would give him something else to zone in and focus on… Hopefully.

(That wasn’t what he wanted to do, though? Hiccup didn’t want to throw himself into chiefing to just, take his mind off of the departed dragons. He wanted to remember them and he wanted to support Berk because it… _They_ were his home. He wanted to do better this time -- he wanted to take care of them properly and ensure their prosperity -- because that was his responsibility and it was definitely what Toothless was going to be doing for his kind--)

“Well, no, actually. _We_ will,” Astrid corrected him firmly, causing his gaze to drift over at her. Hiccup managed crack a small, tight smile at the adamance in her voice. “You’re not doing any of this alone, Hiccup.”

At her addition… His breath catches, his gaze drops. For the longest time, ‘alone’ for Hiccup has constituted as not just himself, but himself and Toothless. The two of them, together, as one. So now, even if what she was talking about was him _not_ being alone… “I--“

Except Astrid just had this way of being one step ahead of him sometimes. 

(Oftentimes.)

(Most of the time.)

“--I know,” she whispered, having gently interjected, “I know, Hiccup. But you’re not on your own, entirely. You never will be. And on top of that? You’re not incomplete, either.”

...He gets what she’s saying. Logically, he knew he wasn’t; _of course_ he wasn’t alone. Having her beside him was physical proof of that part, but it still felt like he was missing a part of himself. When he looked out to the horizon, he could feel this--this, this _chunk_ of him that just felt distant. Detached. He’d spent the last six years of his life with Toothless and -- now?

It wasn’t like all of that was just gone. It wasn’t like he was going to wake up in the morning and feel like the past half decade didn’t happen. This was an ache he would continue to feel for the rest of his life, but ultimately... Hiccup knew that this was how things just had to be. What he’d seen -- what they all _experienced_ was a reflection of just how dangerous the rest of world was for the creatures they’ve come to love, and in the Hidden World, so many more of them would be safe.

_As long as he was safe._

Houses could be rebuilt. Villages could be re-established. Lives, however, of Vikings and dragons alike, were by no means expendable.

Hiccup swallowed thickly and sniffed.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, turning his head to kiss her temple. “I know.” He paused and furrowed his brow, because since he was already with Astrid… His biggest anxiety, weighing right up there with the potential of (or the inevitable?) struggle on Berk: “D’you think that tail is going to hold up alright?”

He felt her warm exhale against his skin. “Of course. _You_ built it, after all.”

Hiccup felt his features tighten and his eyes sting as he nodded slowly. At least, he thought he nodded, only Astrid had been quick to lift a hand and bring it to his face so as to turn it towards her. He looked down, not surprised that she hadn’t missed a single beat in both responding and acting.

“You’re not alone,” she repeated, “and neither is he.” Her thumb passed over his cheek, smearing away a tear that he didn’t realize he shed, and he leaned into her palm. “Do you know what’s going to happen, in the event that it fails somehow? They’ll find us. They’ll find _you._ No matter how many islands, no matter how much ocean is between us and them -- between you and Toothless -- you’re always going to be together. If he needs to, _when_ he needs to, he’ll find his way.”

He knitted his brow. Astrid’s pep talks sometimes got lost on him, and though they were powerful and poignant, he found himself replaying her words here and there. ‘I want to remember what you say, right now’? Uh, yeah. Took him a moment to realize she was referring to the fact that, once upon a time, she was ‘not listening to anything he had to say.’

(Oh, how far they’ve come.)

“Together… With leagues of sea between us.” Hiccup was, obviously, only somewhat following.

She shrugged and smiled softly, a very _Astrid_ smile -- one part slightly cryptic, all parts confident. “Together from afar. Why not? Distance doesn’t change everything _,_ in the same way it doesn’t erase the past.” Her hand moved down from his cheek to his armor. She coasted her fingers over the grooves of scratches spanning his chest, breathing deeply and frowning slightly, only to settle her hand just about where his heart was. Her expression untensed. “Here. Everything is still here.”

She looked pleased with herself as she tapped her index finger there -- for Hiccup, that much was enough, but she wasn’t without a point. It was just… He had wondered if he relied on Toothless _too_ much, if only because it was the favor of a Night Fury that helped him gain the favor of a people who once scorned his very existence. Without him now, what would become of his future as chief? Would he be able to live up to their expectations? Hiccup worried that he was too dependent, that he needed Toothless more than Toothless ever needed him, because without Toothless, he was--

...No, not _nothing._ That was silly, wasn’t it? He felt that way sometimes, but everyone, from Astrid to his mother, reminded him otherwise. Once more, that was exactly what she was doing: reminding him of just how important he and Toothless were -- are -- to each other. A bond like theirs was too strong to be one-sided and it was too strong to be forgotten.

Hiccup sucked air into his lungs with an audible inhale. He repeated those three words (practicing them, letting them sink in, feeling them on his tongue) before he breathed out. “Together from afar.”

Admittedly, it was growing on him pretty fast.

Astrid hummed in wordless agreement, and in those moments, he wondered how he managed to get so fortunate with building such powerful, meaningful relationships. Toothless was one example… Astrid was another. As she turned forward again and leaned into his side, she sighed, but not of pain or tiredness. It was satisfied and content.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” She mumbled. Hiccup, feeling a bit better, wrapped an arm around her middle and kissed the side of her head.

“The sunrise? Or you?” (Pass on an opportunity like that? How could he?)

“Shut up.” She elbowed him gently, albeit in good humor. Though she did and said one thing, he could still hear the laugh in her voice. ”I appreciate that, but… No, neither. I was talking about how incredible it was to have lived alongside them for so long. How beautiful it is that we’ve done and seen so much more of what this world has to offer.” Astrid leaned over to kiss his cheek before they turned to each other again. He felt like he started glowing, as if a warmth was now flooding through him like the early sun’s soft rays of light. That was the kind of effect Astrid’s kisses had on him. “And you, Hiccup -- you brought us here. You made it all possible. Thank you.”

...Hiccup smiled and shook his head. Did he? Technically, yes, and he did pour his heart into the idea of a harmonious society of Vikings and dragons, but he still felt like only did so much. “I’m thankful to them. To Toothless. They’re the ones who--“

“Hey,” she cut him off, hand seizing his. “I am, too. We all are. The reason why we’ve made it this far was because we coexisted with mutual benefit, but you were the one who showed us -- showed me -- that it was even possible. I’m saying ‘thank you’ to you, Hiccup. We wouldn’t be here without you and I mean that in the absolute best way because… Because flying with you -- with them--” Astrid shook her head, almost incredulously, as if she couldn’t believe reality. He could relate. “It was such an _honor_.”

He turned his hand in hers so that he was holding her fingers and could better bring her knuckles to his lips. Often, he didn’t feel like he deserved Astrid’s praise, but he tried to understand why she felt like giving it to him. And, coming from her -- practical, sensible, honest Astrid -- he knew that it always had to mean something. “Then… Thank you, for choosing to fly with us all this time.” Hiccup smiled, feeling the tightness in his chest melt into more warmth, just because she was looking at him like… _That_. Soft smile, loving eyes. Six years ago, he never thought that anybody, let alone Astrid Hofferson, would ever look at him like _that._

"...I meant what I said, you know. I wish I could say that I can't imagine what my life would be like if you hadn't changed it, but..." She shook her head -- and, and sniffled? And looked toward the horizon of rolling clouds. Hiccup opened his mouth to assure her that she didn't have to talk about it if it was too much, because she really didn't, but when she looked back at him with watery eyes... "When I think about it, it only makes me so much more grateful that I have you."

"Astrid..." As they held hands until their knuckles were white, there was a lump in his throat that he struggled to swallow. Hiccup scrubbed his other hand down his face and managed a tight laugh. "Gods -- I, you're--"

"Emotional? Yeah." She laughed too and leaned in to tuck her face into the crook of his neck. "You just need to hear these things. You deserve to know exactly how much you mean to me."

“I think... I think I've got an idea. How does--hey, how does ‘together from beside each other’ sound?”

She slowly pulled away, blinked blankly at him for a second -- then she grinned. “If we weren’t already betrothed, I’d still say yes."

With ‘ _betrothed’_ having just left her lips, Hiccup wasn’t getting ready to react to the way she latched a hand onto his shoulder and pulled him in -- he was too busy opening his mouth, readying to ask her to repeat herself. Unfortunately for his still-processing mind, Astrid was always all about initiative: in a matter of seconds, she sealed the rest of the space between them. Her arms looped around his neck, she pressed her forehead to his, and after a moment of holding eye contact…

They moved in, almost simultaneously, and the slants of their smiling lips met with the kind of ease that only came with practice. Hiccup reached up to sweep some of her hair behind her ear before settling against her face, fingers holding the line of her jaw, thumb running over her cheek. It’s in those moments (noses brushing, foreheads touching, breath mingling) that he feels grounded again -- a good grounded. The best kind of grounded; the kind that brought upon feelings of certainty and comfort.

When they inevitably part, Hiccup couldn’t help but steal another kiss: a briefer follow-up peck. “So… I’m still your betrothed, huh?”

“Please, Hiccup,” she half-scoffed, and whether she was truly exasperated or truly concerned, he couldn’t exactly tell. And whether _he_ was actually asking or making a joke? Honestly, he couldn’t tell that much either. “There’s no question. I mean, unless, of course…” Astrid cleared her throat and beat her fist to her chest, and before she said a single word with the altered pitch of her voice, Hiccup already knew what was coming.

“Astrid, no. Astrid, do _not--“_

“'But he--ey, if you’re havin’ doubts--'“

“So help me, I will tickle you again--“

“'--about _yours truly_ , I’m pretty sure Snotlout’s still available--'“

“First of all, _no._ Second of all, no again. You have had years to work on this and you--you still sound, nothing -- absolutely _nothing_ like me--“

“Hey, what? What happened to ‘you win, you win, you always win’?”

“You win at everything except impressions--okay, har har, you can stop with the shoulder thing, Astrid, you always insist on bringing back the shoulder thing--aaand, and now you’re smiling funny.” Hiccup sighed, but… Okay, he’s smiling too. It was impossible not to, with how bright her face was. “Why are you smiling funny? What is it this time?”

“Nothing, really,” Astrid snorted, “just thinking--“

“You, thinking? Dangerous.”

“--about how it’s been… Six years. Can you believe that?” As Astrid leaned into him, Hiccup fixed his arm around her shoulders.

“...A lot changes in six years. One day you’re a scrawny nobody pining after Berk’s most promising, the next day you’re chief and the girl of your dreams actually knows your name. _Wild_.”

Astrid laughed and tugged him into another kiss. “Aw, babe. You had a crush on me,” she grinned, squishing one of his cheeks with her hand. Hiccup groaned.

“We’ve been _together_ \-- like, seriously together--"

“You had a big, huge, massive crush on me.”

"Six years. It's been six years. You know this, right?”

“You really,  _really_  liked me. That’s so  _cute--“_

“Astrid, we are engaged--“

"Oh, _Astrid_ ,"she said, mocking swooning with her hand dramatically draped over her forehead. 

“Ha-ha-ha, real funny. That’s it -- c’mere, you!”

There’s a tackle, a shriek, and plenty bouts of laughter; in a tangle of limbs and giggles, the two somehow ended up on the ground. After a deal of struggling against Hiccup’s arms, which he _thought_ were snugly wound around her waist, Astrid managed to successfully come out on top -- literally. She was half-laying on him with their torsos pressed flush, not to mention her hands holding his to the ground at either side of his head.

“You almost had me,” she mused, ducking her head to peck his nose once she's caught her breath. In feigned indignation, Hiccup wrinkled his nose, but... Nose kisses still made his heart flutter. All of Astrid's kisses made his heart flutter. “Still a little too sloppy, though. Maybe next time, but good effort.”

Hiccup dropped his head back in defeat. “Ugh. Please, you’re just impossible.”

“Yeah? Let the records show that you’re the one who made the proposal sword.” Astrid grinned down at him.

"You're the one who accepted it."

"How could I not? It's a beautiful sword," she hummed. "And functional, too. If I'm being totally honest, I'm in this thing with the hopes of getting a pair of matching knives. Maybe a cool dagger."

"I--wh--really? Really, Astrid? I can't believe you're marrying me for weapons."

"Mm. Among other things, of course."

"Oh, okay. Alright. Gotcha. So like, my raw Viking manliness? And these beefy arms and legs?" He paused. "Ah. Well, you know. Leg."

That had earned a snicker from her, but after a second... Her broad smile softened, her hands released his and settled against his cheeks. She smoothed her thumbs over his skin and sighed, and with how close they were, Hiccup could feel the warmth of her breath. With the sudden shift in atmosphere, he couldn't help but wonder what he said wrong. Did she think he was being self-deprecating again? Did she feel bad for laughing? For--

“...Hiccup?”

(Odin, why did his blood run cold?)

“Az?”

“Jokes aside,” she murmured, and with every syllable that her mouth traced, he could feel the ghost of her lips against his. “I do want to marry you. There’s never been a doubt in my mind about that. When -- and I say _when,_ not _if_ \-- it does happen, though? It’s going to be on our terms. Not because the village thinks we should, not for the sake of giving them a distraction, and definitely not when we’re still trying to figure so much out, about ourselves and who we are and Berk...”

Astrid steadied herself with an even breath. “And I think that's okay, because we have the time. I’m not going anywhere -- and the title of 'wife' or 'chieftess' isn't the thing that's important to me. They're _titles_. Meaningful ones, sure, but... I don't need to be your wife to tell you how much I love you, nor do I need to be a chieftess to stand beside you and help lead."

...He felt the mounting tension in his tired body dissipate then. The comfort, the casualness, the easy intimacy… Yeah. How they slipped in and out of their usual teasing was reassuring of where he stood with Astrid, especially given the circumstances, but hearing her declare her intentions, _seriously_ \--

The chill in his veins gave way to a luminescent warmth. Hiccup reached up and slipped a hand behind her hair, at the nape of her neck, and eased her down for another kiss.

On her lips, which were curving into a smile against his own, he tasted eternity and the promise of Valhalla.

“Astrid?”

“Hicc?”

The shortened version of his name made his heart skip a beat.

“I love you.”

(They had time.)

* * *

 It had been days since they left. Since then, Berk made significant progress with rebuilding: the new smithy was one of the first established buildings, alongside several houses. Tasks were distributed among different parties; they had people collecting wood and processing it into planks, people already working on construction, people breaking earth and clearing croplands -- there were even children running around, making scavenger hunts out of collecting the scales left behind by the dragons, shiny little plates scattered around the beginnings of their village.

Hiccup didn’t know that that was what they were up to until Astrid lead one of the kids up to him, a guiding hand on a young girl’s back as she gently urged her to step forward. He was stunned, frankly, for just a moment, because he was almost certain that he saw a glimpse of their future… But Astrid’s voice jarred him from his vision-slash-fleeting reverie. “Got a second, chief?” She greeted, a familiar glimmer in her eye. “Ysgra wanted to give you something.”

“I’ve--yeah, yes, I’ve always got time,” he assured them both, smiling. “What’cha got there?” Confused as he was, Hiccup stooped down into a crouch, making himself eye-level with Ysgra. She was only five, if he remembered correctly -- not to mention one of the many Berkians who came to be after dragons were no longer a threat and people could raise families with much more peace of mind.

(Raising a family, peace of mind, _Astrid_ \--)

“I -- found these. And thought y’might want ‘em.” Ysgra was sheepish as she moved her clasped hands from her chest directly towards him, and in a set of small, open palms…

Hiccup exhaled slowly as several smooth, black scales clinked into his hand. He was speechless for a moment, but when he looked between the scales and Ysgra’s face, he found that she looked -- nervous? Worried that it was too soon, maybe? Quickly, he tried to dispel those concerns with a bright smile, a ‘thank you,’ and a hand on her shoulder. Ysgra beamed at him. Before she took off, however, she gave Astrid a solid salute -- one that made Hiccup laugh and grin a little more.

“You didn’t put them up to this, did you?” He said, eyes jokingly narrowed. Hiccup stood up and closed his fingers over the scales as Ysgra partied up with a few more children who were eagerly combing through the grass.

Astrid shook her head. “Oh, no. They just like to salute their general. The scales were all them. They’ve been coming up with piles and piles of them -- some kids are collecting, some kids are classifying and sorting. It’s impressive, actually,” she hummed, stepping forward to set a hand against his chest. “I wonder who inspired them to take such an interest.”

Hiccup shrugged and smiled, but… “You don’t think it’ll be tough? Some of these kids -- most of them don’t, they don’t know life _without_ dragons.”

“Hey. They don’t know life without dragons, in the same way they don’t know life of _war_ with dragons,” Astrid insisted as she reached down to take his hand, the one holding Toothless’ scales. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

He sighed. She took his chin in her other hand and lifted his face to meet hers.

“It’s a wonderful thing, Hiccup,” she murmured. “Remember that you’ve done so many wonderful things for us -- and we’re only going to try and be better, but you have to be easier on yourself. In fact… Wait for me, okay? I’ll be back in five.”

She left him with a kiss on the cheek and his fingers tightly curled around a handful of Night Fury scales.

…

It was more like seven minutes, but he wasn’t really counting.

Hiccup had been centered at the forge in the meantime, approving a series of drafted plans for construction, hearing out requests for tools and more nails and so on, and… Collecting now-obsolete dragon saddles to be re-purposed into more practical kinds of storage and for material, among other things. When Astrid came back, she held a long roll of parchment and a handful of--charcoal pencils? His first guess was that she had her own designs and sketches that needed proofing, except--

“A map,” Astrid announced, looking rather proud of herself as she presented him with her supplies. “We’re making a map -- another one. A new one.”

He gaped at her, just about stunned into silence. “You want to--“

“Of course. This is home now, isn’t it? We should have a good idea of what the rest of the landscape is like,” she reasoned. “We can scout more nearby springs, name a forest or two… If I remember, there might be some potential quarries a short hike down. This will help us.”

Hiccup was floored -- in the midst of reconstruction, of trying to be a better chief -- something like that _,_ as very much up his alley as it was, failed to occur to him. 

But it occurred to Astrid... And really, that made it feel so much more significant. They’d given mapping the world their best shot, but -- it was time, wasn't it? And it was fitting. A new map, a new Berk, a new adventure. Hiccup didn't have the right words to respond to the situation, thus leaving him gaping at her with a slack jaw and wide eye, but Astrid, as per usual, knew exactly what to say.

“Like old times,” she said, reaching out with one hand. He closed his fingers around hers and exhaled something to the effect of an amazed, breathy chuckle.

“...Like old times," he repeated, smiling. "What do you think of Raven Two- _Point-_ Oh? Get it? Like -- Raven Point, but two-point-oh, because it's the second--”

“I think it sounds very _you,”_ Astrid snorted. “Which translates, roughly, to ‘I love it.’”

Hiccup lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"I love you, too, milady."

**Author's Note:**

> god. god, i them. i love writing their dumb dorky butts in love. i have ideas... for a third fic? technically a second one -- i've got a post-httyd 1 and a post-httyd 3 work, but i'm really really considering a post-httyd 2 fic........ oof....... lemme know if you'd be interested??
> 
> requests are still open on tumblr! thank u sm for reading!!! kudos and comments are appreciated :') (seriously...... please. i'm so happy w/ how this turned out and i feel like there are some strong lines here, so if you tell me your favorite one or smthn i'll def start CRYING lMAo)
> 
> also!!! for you USA dragon fans: want a chance at super cool and super FREE dragon merch??? check out the giveaway (through march 26th) that i'm hosting on my tumblr: https://bit.ly/2VwQh5x <3 <3 <3


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